The Archbishop of Canterbury writing in The Radio Times says about Christmasthe story says that something is happening that will break boundaries and cross frontiers, so that the most unlikely people will find they are looking for the same thing and recognise each other instead of fearing each other.
He is particularly reflecting about the curious situations
we find ourselves in at Christmas time
He tells the story of being invited whilst recently in India
to bless the Christmas pudding mixture
as the staff of a local hotel prepare to make the first batch
which he does to the blaring sounds of Jingle Bells
We probably all have little stories to tell (perhaps not quite so glaring)
of strange encounters.
- People we only see once a year
- Some people who we know will not be with us for another Christmas
- Strange incidents that happen when we get together...sometimes for good and for ill
Christmas is full of these and like Rowan Williams
we will recognise
hat the most unlikely people will find they are looking for the same thing and recognise each other instead of fearing each other.
There is a group of shepherds, rough men who sleep out in the open.
Who have to drink to keep warm at night
Who see some blinding lights in the sky
and rush to witness
the birth of a baby.
There is a woman who gets pregnant before she is married
and her fiance who knows he is not the father.
There are three dignified gentleman
who are dark and mysterious
who have come from a long way away
in search of something
and carrying rich treasure.
There is another king
who is so fearful
that, we are told, he orders the slaughter of many children
in order to try and prevent a rival claim to his throne.
What is it that they seek?
What, we might ask, do we seek at Christmas time?
It is, of course, God
We may not always name it as such.
But we seek that which will satisfy our deepest longings and needs.
It is unlikely therefore to be a new bicycle
a diamond ring, or even an iPad.
We all know
that as as desirable as these things are they are fleeting
and will break, or wear out.
We can damage or lose them
just as easily as we get them.
We can have the biggest and best
and there can still be an empty void inside us.
We find it rather frightening
that we can have lots of stuff
and yet we are still not fulfilled.
So at Christmas we see some pointers
Chiefly, we see a person Jesus Christ.
Our ultimate fulfilment will come about
when we know Jesus
as friend and brother.
As you come to receive Communion today
pray that you may know Jesus anew.
John tells us that this knowledge
is not earned or even deserved
but that it is a gift...it is grace, free, grace upon grace.
Chiefly, too, we find Jesus revealed as a child
reminding us that for many, probably most of us
this grace will be experienced through our human relationships
and perhaps we need to note
that it is not the bitter and twisted relationships of the adult
that we sometimes presume to call sophisticated
but rather the open trusting relationship of the child
that better reveals how we might experience God.
Some of us find our family and human relationships really hard.
Christmas gives us an opportunity to begin again
to try a little harder
This doesn't so much make it easy
as make it possible to try again.
Don't miss the opportunity.
And so we find
the most unlikely people, you and me, will find we are looking for the same thing
Jesus Christ, God made man,
and then we recognise each other instead of fearing
